MSI Press Blog

  INTRODUCTION  On a balmy afternoon in July, the weather turned ugly shards of lightning, booming thunder, roiling green and black clouds, and an angry wind that shook our trailer unmercifully. Forecasted tornado warnings in the Edmonton area had me peering through rain streaked windows at a darkening sky, scanning for dreaded vortexes that would prompt a hasty retreat to our campground’s washroom.  A little brown head bunted my leg, chimpanzee-esque eyes expressing concern. “Don’t worry,” I said, “The odds of dying in a tornado are 20 million to one.” It’s the ONE I’m worried about, she replied, continuing her frantic pacing.  An hour later, sanity returned with mottled gray skies and peaceful prairie breezes. Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, said it best: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” That’s good—being stronger may have helped us survive even worse weather yet to come, Canada’s “Storm of the Century.”  In 1960, John Steinbeck traveled across th

  A walk down memory lane is always fun, and here are some fun posts we have written that feature cats: Read posts about Sula the Parish Cat . Read posts about Shelly and author Jeremy Feig's Book of the Year finalist book about her. Read posts about Elly and her travels. Read posts about Noah and his puppy. Read about Intrepid and his adventures (a cat memorial, with lots of pictures).

  This is a special, short but important post, especially for Caturday. Our friends who rescue cats have reported something that I do not think many owners think about. What will happen to my pets when I die? Our pet-rescue friends have ended up with a number of an animals in situations where the owner died and the pet left with no clear instructions as to "what next" should be done. Often they are older pets and hard to adopt out. One hopes that a shelter will take them, but not all shelters are no-kill, and sometimes neighbors just open the door and let the pets out onto the street--and, having been cared for all their lives, they have no idea how to fend for themselves and end up sick (or, if they are lucky, trapped and with our friends who will work hard to find a home for them). Owners probably do not think about these things, especially if they are not yet facing end-of-life conditions. However, any of us can die at any time, and our pets deserve to be in our will, just

  The New York City Animal Care Centers suggest adopting a shelter pet for Valentine's Day. There is now an adopted shelter pet in the White House. How many households would it take, following suit, to empty the shelters? Often, shelter pets come from people who are too ill to continue to care for them or who have died. They are housebroken, domesticated, socialized, and usually loving. What a good companion that might be! Personally, I (MSI Press managing editor -- I am generally the one who writes our blog posts) "adopt" my pets from the street. Five of my current 6 cats were feral rescues, just picked up and brought in. As far as I know, none were abandoned but had been born "in the wild" and had scrapped for food. They did not know a kind touch, and vets wrote FERAL in big red letters across their charts. That is mainly because the cats hissed at them and either scratched or bit them or both. It takes some effort and TIME (not days and weeks, but months and

Why Cats Make Better Mentors Than Dogs  1) Pet’s goal in life: Dog: Please his master. Cat: Please herself. Point: Cat 2) How pet gets what it wants: Dog: Begging for it. Cat: Taking it. Point: Cat 3)  How pet endears itself to humans: Dog: Demeaning tricks. Cat: Being herself. Point: Cat 4) Pet’s favorite activity: Dog: Long, repetitive walks. Cat: Sleeping. Point: Cat 5) Likelihood pet will eat its own vomit: Dog: Extremely high. Cat: Pretty unlikely. Point: Cat Read more excerpts HERE , along with information about the author and book. Check out the book page for How My Cat Made Me a Better Man at the MSI Press website.

11. A Slice of Canine Heaven  When Emme died, I struggled to find the right words of condolence for her owner, my colleague Matt. I finally told him that rarely are my expectations of great things completely fulfilled, but my day with Emme exceeded my hopes and was a joy. Emme was a 170-pound Great Dane who spent one hot summer day, per Matt, “babysitting” me when I was homebound with a sinus infection. I’d been sick in June with a similar illness, and when I returned to work, Matt offered to bring Emme to my home the next time I felt ill. He knew I loved Great Danes but couldn’t own one because of my chronic illness. So, during my second week-long bout that summer with sinus issues, I gave Matt a call. At six-thirty the next day, he arrived with Emme and the largest dog bed I’d ever seen.  After an hour of anxiously checking my front door, Emme settled in. She was the most obedient animal I’d ever encountered. She jumped on the couch to cuddle on command. She placed her head

Parent’s Guide This story encourages conversations between parents and their young children about PTSD, post-deployment issues, or parents suffering from depression. ●        It is understandable that some of you might be feeling anxious about talking to your child about such difficult topics - this is normal. What is important to remember is that you are not there to talk to your child about trauma. Instead, it is best to focus on some of the emotions that they have seen you experience, like fear, panic, sadness. These are all emotions children can understand as they have experienced these emotions themselves at some point in their lives. They can relate to how you feel by asking them to remember a time when they had a nightmare or got lost in a store. ●        When you are talking to your child, it is essential to be an active listener. You should be listening more than speaking. Some children may find it hard to express themselves, so it is vital that you, during th

Why Cats Make Better Mentors Than Dogs  1) Pet’s goal in life: Dog: Please his master. Cat: Please herself. Point: Cat 2) How pet gets what it wants: Dog: Begging for it. Cat: Taking it. Point: Cat 3)  How pet endears itself to humans: Dog: Demeaning tricks. Cat: Being herself. Point: Cat 4) Pet’s favorite activity: Dog: Long, repetitive walks. Cat: Sleeping. Point: Cat 5) Likelihood pet will eat its own vomit: Dog: Extremely high. Cat: Pretty unlikely. Point: Cat Excerpt from How My Cat Made Me a Better Man (Code FF25 for 25% discount at MSI Press webstore) Also available on Kindle Jeremy Feig is originally from a small town in slightly upstate New York. After graduating from New Paltz College, he moved to Los Angeles for TV and film production work before stumbling into a career in digital marketing. Jeremy spends much of his time working on creative projects, usually involving comedy. He’s written numerous screenplays and TV scripts, created ori

Released yesterday! This nonfiction book views Canada from a personal perspective, similar to John Steinbeck's view of America in his 1960 book  Travels with Charley . The author travels from coast to coast in a trailer with his wife and pets, including their Standard Poodle, Elly, in order to gain a better understanding of his adopted country. Interspersed between descriptions of history, cultures, places, and icons are the author's reflections on various things such as Elly's antics, signage, ferries, political injustice, environmental issues, and animal instincts. To provide a canine's perspective, Elly reflects on things of interest to her, including cats, cows, and other critters...but especially cats! Where was Canada's first settlement? What is its prettiest town? When and where was its most devastating shipwreck? And who was its greatest hero? Find out by reading this account of the author's journey through a unique and wondrous country, brimming with